Textual Witnesses to the Preslav Recension of Questions and Answers to Antiochus the Duke

This article explores the Slavic manuscript tradition of the Questions and Answers to Antiochus the Duke ( QAD ), a theological dialogue attributed to Athanasius of Alexandria that circulated widely in the Byzantine world and played a significant role in transmitting Christian thought from Byzantium to the Slavic world. Focusing on the so-called Preslav recension – originating in medieval Bulgaria – we undertake a comparative analysis of three key textual witnesses: the Laurentian Miscellany, the Zograf manuscript, and the Izmaragd collection. Among these, the Laurentian Miscellany is the only complete text of the Preslav recension that scholars have studied most extensively. Some research has also been done on Izmaragd , while the Zograf manuscript has only recently entered scholarly circulation through our work. By analyzing the textual, linguistic, and orthographic features of these witnesses, this study seeks to elucidate the preservation, regional adaptations, and integration of QAD into broader Slavic literary traditions, as well as to establish the relations of the three witnesses to one another. This work forms part of a larger effort to prepare a critical edition of QAD and to explore its influence in shaping Slavic theological discourse

Byzantine architecture · Key (lock) · Miscellany · Slavic languages · Slavic studies · Balkan and Eastern European Studies · Byzantine Studies and History · Religious, Philosophical, and Educational Studies